18 Taliban dead in Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP) - Security forces in Afghanistan announced Friday that they had killed 18 Taliban in various operations while a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near Italian troops but only killed himself. The deadliest battle was late Thursday during a raid against a "key Taliban insurgent" and to disrupt a bombing cell, the US-led coalition said in a statement. Afghan and coalition troops were attacked immediately when they arrived at a civilian compound where the militants were taking shelter, it said. Eleven rebels, including the "key Taliban insurgent", were killed. Also in Helmand, a police operation killed five militants, including a commander who had planned a bomb blast a week ago which took the life of anti-Taliban parliamentarian Dad Mohammad Khan, the Interior Ministry said. Elsewhere Thursday, Afghan forces assisted by US-led coalition troops killed two militants allegedly planting a bomb on a road in the southern province of Uruzgan, a separate US military statement said. On Friday meanwhile a suicide bomber blew himself up near an Italian military convoy in the western province of Herat, Afghan authorities said. "Only the suicide attacker was killed," said the provincial intelligence chief, Delawar Shah Delawar. "There was no other casualty and Italian forces were not harmed." The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on its website. Meanwhile, an Afghan army soldier opened fire on troops from the US-led coalition operating in northern Afghanistan Friday, killing two and wounding one before killing himself, the US and Afghan militaries said. A joint statement from the forces did not announce the nationalities of the foreign casualties, leaving this to their home nation, or say exactly where in the north the incident occurred. "One coalition servicemember was killed today, another died of wounds, and a third was wounded by an Afghan National Army soldier who reportedly fired upon them," the statement said. The Afghan soldier killed himself immediately after the incident, it said. The statement quoted the Afghan Defence Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, expressing his sorrow about the incident, which is under investigation.